To Harden Your Heart

And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

-- Exodus 4: 21 (KJV)

The good news: the Lord has promised to deliver Israel from its sufferings in Egypt. The bad news: it's not going to be easy.

Here's how God sees it: Moses shall return to Egypt and rally the elders of Israel behind him. They shall then approach Pharaoh to demand a three-day vacation in the wilderness, to make sacrifice to their God; but "the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand" (Exodus 3: 19).

But there's more good news: Yahweh will then smite Egypt with his "wonders" (verse 20), namely plagues, and in the end Pharaoh will gladly let Israel go. More bad news: Yahweh plans to stiffen Pharaoh's resistance, or "harden his heart," so that a few mere disasters won't make him loosen his grip. Moses will have to threaten, and God produce, ever more drastic calamities, culminating in the death of all Egypt's first-born sons, before Pharaoh relents. So while God will free his people through Moses, he will lengthen their bondage through Pharaoh.

It's been said before, but mysterious are the ways of the Lord. The point the author (E) wants to make, however, is that all the crucial events in Israel's history, both successes and failures, have ultimately been orchestrated by God. Why God might want to work at cross-purposes in freeing his people is never explained, but it is probably to prolong the Egyptians' humiliation.

Note that in Exodus hardening the heart is something God does to you, not something you do to yourself. Our usage takes a cue from the book of Psalms, where the phrase "Harden not your heart" appears (95: 8). This is the unique reference in the Bible to self-inflicted hardening.

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!